(Continued from Part 3.)
Calving
I have been very fortunate that all my cows have calved without assistance until this last one. I’m praying that disaster does not happen again. I could not have saved that calf by myself, and there was only one available Veterinarian on call at the time. She also could not have done it by herself. I am thankful for good friends who would drop everything to come over and assist. While we saved the heifer, we lost the calf. The heifer has recovered beautifully due to our intervention, and she’s doing well. I have three more calves coming this year, and only one of them will be a first time heifer.
Generally speaking, it’s only the first time heifers you have to watch closely. If the cows are in proper condition and well maintained, calving time should go well. I try to time calving around good weather. Basically, any time except for winter.
Supplies that I have on hand are mostly to treat symptoms, such as milk fever, ketosis, and mastitis. I have a box of OB gloves (long plastic gloves that come all the way up your arm and in my case, over the shoulder). The gloves should be donned prior to sticking your hand and arm into the cow to assist with calving (or breeding). Human germs are far worse than cow manure, and you could give your cow a uterine infection by sticking an arm in her.
I learned that when it’s time to calve, what you are looking for is two little hooves palm side facing down, followed by a nose laying on top of those legs, and the rest of the calf should follow as if diving out of its mother. If you see one hoof, you have to fish out the other hoof. If the hooves are facing up rather than down, the calf is upside down and there will be complications.
If a cow appears in labor with no hooves showing, and does not progress, it’s an emergency. I will never have the strength to pull a calf who is not in proper position, but at least now, I have friends I can call for help.
Most first time heifers are good moms, but occasionally you have to help her understand that the calf needs to nurse pretty quickly to get the benefit from her colostrum. A cow who kicks, badgers, or tries to stomp on her calf is a very bad mother, and the calf should immediately be taken away from her. I would send a bad mother to Freezer Camp pretty fast. So far, all my first time cows have been good mothers, even if they had a little initial confusion.
Milking
The secret to delicious, fresh tasting, milk that stays good in the refrigerator for a month is hygiene. The equipment must be clean, the glass jars sterilized, and the fresh milk needs to be chilled immediately. I use half gallon jars because they are easier to deal with, easy to sterilize, and the milk chills faster in them. I put freshly strained milk in the jars and then put them in a freezer for 90 minutes to chill, then into a dedicated refrigerator that is set at 38 degrees.
Additionally, the cow’s udder and teats must be clean. I use an iodine based teat dip and each teat is dipped prior to, wiped down, and dipped after milking. After cleaning her up, I express any milk that may be in her teats by hand (and I wear nitrile gloves), before putting the clean milker on her. That rids each teat canal of possible debris and unwanted bacteria. If she comes in to be milked and there is manure on her, the process is much longer, so I strive to make sure she always has a clean space to bed herself down on. Clean milk, clean equipment, clean jars, and clean hands. If the milk goes bad quickly, tastes off or smells off, there is either a hygiene issue or she has the beginnings of mastitis. I check my cows in milk frequently for the beginnings of mastitis so I can catch it early. I haven’t had a single cow with mastitis in all these years. I’m sure my turn is coming.
You need a covered area to milk in, whether that is a barn, or a milking shed, or a lean to. I opted for a lean to, but wish I had gone to the expense of a milking shed. In my area, the weather is generally mild, but there are times when I wish I had a proper wind break. You need, generally, a way to secure the cow. I opted for a homemade headlock and the design is flawed, but it works.
When I got my first cow, I spent as much on milking equipment as I did on the cow. I knew, with the terrible arthritis in my hands, that I could not hand milk. I’ve never regretted that decision. I did copious research on milking systems before I made a purchase, which has held me in good stead. When I see people purchasing milking equipment off Amazon, or milking a cow with a milker intended for goats, I cringe. I buy all my equipment from Hamby Dairy Supply. It is critical, for the health and welfare of the cow’s udder and teats, that the correctly fitting equipment (inflations) is used, and that the pressure provided by the vacuum pump and pulsator are correct. It should mimic hand milking of the cow.
The nice thing about using a milker is that it can be a real time saver. The cow can be milked out in 5-8 minutes versus hand milking for 30+ minutes. I have two friends who are such great hand milkers that they can milk out a cow in 10-15 minutes. Cooperation from the cow is necessary, so making her experience a pleasant one is important. Cows like routine. They want to go to the same place for milking, and know what the routine is. My cows will voluntarily wait at the gate to be milked. And when more than one is in milk, they establish a priority line by themselves. As in, the bossiest cow will come in to be milked first. It doesn’t matter to me who comes in first, as long as they all behave themselves.
I’ve had some kicking cows! So, I use a kick bar, and I’ve found over time that simply putting a kick bar on whomever cow is being milked is just part of the routine, even if she’s not a kicker. I have noticed that a kick means something is bothering her, so I find out what that is. I’ve only had one cow kick with intent and keep on kicking, and that was the cow who became infertile, and went to Freezer Camp. I suspect she was having hormonal disruptions that made her very angry.
When I milk the cows, I am slow, methodical, and calm. Cows can sense your state of mind, so it’s best to not be milking when you are so stressed out that you rush or forget what you are doing. I’ve had cows that will want to pee or poop during the milking process. I don’t make a big deal out of that and if I keep a calm routine, that behavior stops fairly quickly. A cow who has just calved may not want to leave her calf to be milked, so sometimes bringing the calf in with its mom works really well. As long as she can see that her calf is safe, she will cooperate.
I had one cow who refused to come in to be milked after calving, and she would charge me if I got near her or her calf, so I had to separate her calf permanently from her and bottle feed it with her milk. I had one cow who could care less where her calf was and would always come in to be milked. I do understand why people separate the calves immediately and bottle feed them with their mother’s milk. It precludes all the cow/calf drama. Some will separate the calf at night, milk mom in the morning, then turn them out together during the day, which is a nice compromise. I always had a hard time getting them separated in the evening, so I don’t bother with that. Or, I should say, I do not want that headache in the evenings.
I do not have a milking barn, as I mentioned, nor do I have a “milk room” where the milk handling and equipment live. I have a designated dairy wagon. The equipment, supplies, and feed are loaded into the wagon and I take it out to the milking area. When I am finished it all comes back into the farmhouse kitchen where the milk is processed and the equipment sanitized. The wagon lives in the attached garage, where the “milk refrigerator” lives. It’s not convenient. The kitchen has to be clean before I start, and cleaned up afterwards. If I have to milk through the winter this year, I’m considering using a sled rather than a wagon.
Selling
Cash flow is a thing, and sometimes you need to sell in order to make ends meet. I have sold a number of calves and a couple of cows, and it was a huge headache. I even bought a cow back because the people advertised her for sale not long after they bought her. She was in absolutely perfect condition and well trained, but she didn’t give enough milk for their family. I didn’t want her passed around, so she’s back home now, hopefully for her lifetime. I got to meet the cow they replaced her with. That cow gave a lot more milk, but she looked scruffy and not in very good condition with a low hanging udder. They’ll figure it out.
It’s taken me a few years, but unless something changes, I have my “forever herd”. Interestingly, all my cows have come from the same gentleman farmer who loves the dairy cows as much as I do. We are constantly in touch about the cows, their calves, breeding, etc. They are all in excellent condition, A2A2, disease free, and I didn’t pay a fortune for them. (I did pay a lot, don’t get me wrong, but not a fortune.) It was serendipity or a “God thing”. In any case, I feel very fortunate to have a lovely herd of healthy cows.
I purchased a mini Jersey once and I discovered that she is too low to the ground for a milking machine to work with her, so I sold her quickly and chastised myself for not thinking things through. She was a sweet cow. I’ve sold a couple of calves to some friends and I get pictures regularly of them. My plan has been to keep the bull calves, steer them, grow them out for beef, and sell the heifer calves to pay for hay and feed. I’ve only had one really bad experience with selling a heifer calf, but what that taught me is to thoroughly vet the buyer first. I don’t want any animal that I have raised to suffer, but I can’t keep them all.
In my state, it is legal to form a “herdshare”, which is a contract between you and the buyer, that allows for selling raw milk. Technically speaking, you aren’t selling raw milk. You are allowing people to buy in to the care and feeding of the cows, from which they receive a share of the raw milk. It is also legal, with some caveats, to sell raw milk as “pet milk”, not for human consumption. In any case, I had a herdshare for several years. I closed it last year when my health failed me. It definitely helped with costs, but it is also a lot of work. Milk from my cows is just for family now.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 5.)